Gay right advocates have both demonstrated against and petitioned the church on recent gay rights issues, including the church’s support of Proposition 8 in California — a constitutional amendment to define marriage as just between one man and one woman. Proposition 8 passed in the November election; Utah has already adopted a similar amendment.

McCoy and others want LDS leaders to publicly support a group of bills to be considered in the Legislature that, according to McCoy, would advance gay partnership rights in areas that the church has not opposed in California.

Canada, which legally protects the rights of same sex partners to engage in state sanctioned genderless marraiges is now criminally prosecuting others who seek to practice polygamy based on their religious beliefs. The AP is reporting (and is being picked up all over the world) that two polygamous leaders have been arrested and criminally charged in Canada, for practicing polygamy: (more…)

Guess that anti-8 Utah boycott, so effectively concieved by the losing side, isn’t going exactly as planned–at least as to the Sundance Film Festival. Anyone with any knowledge about Utah and its toursim industry understands that Park City, and the Sundance Film festival are likley the most “gay friendly” city and venue in all of Utah. Who really gets hurt if the boycott succeeds? Seems the same minds who ran the campaign are still in charge.

The anti-8 zeal without knowledge crowd defaces a gay-friendly Catholic Church in San Francisco. They just don’t quite get it yet, do they? The way to promote your cause, win friends and influence people is probably not like this.

Yet six speakers at a July 24 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing — from Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid to former plural wife Carolyn Jessop — said fraud and misuse of welfare funds is a primary reason the federal government should be more involved in investigating the sect. Reid said the FLDS have a “sophisticated, wealthy and vast criminal organization” that includes “welfare fraud.”

Jessop told the committee the FLDS engage in a “religious doctrine” known as ‘bleeding the beast,’ ” which she explained included applying for “every possible type of government of assistance that is available.” Author Stephen Singular, who has written a book about the FLDS, told the committee that Colorado City residents received “eight times the welfare assistance of comparably sized towns in the area.”

Hey, Harry, the nation is poised on the brink of another Depression, and you’re off investigating the FLDS–at taxpayer expense– when the data doesn’t even support the claims? And, Carolyn Jessop? Does anyone believe she has an ounce of credibility when it comes to FLDS issues? That’s like asking Fawn Brodie to write an objective biography of the Prophet Joseph Smith. (Cute the July 24th hearing date).

Face it, the government is still singling out the FLDS because of their peculiar and unpopular religious beliefs and practices. You don’t hear this in reference to lifestyles in government run ghettos all over the country:

But Paul Murphy, spokesman for Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, said that while there may not be “outright fraud” by the polygamous community, there is “a resentment that taxpayers are being used to support this lifestyle.